Five minutes after Artemis finished tearing down any chances of the Mutant Registration Act being passed, she left the balcony to follow someone who had caught her attention.
Because she specialized in the subtler forms of psychic ability, she had developed a skill set that the Professor and her sister couldn't...empathy.
She followed the feeling of emotional pain to someone she had only ever heard about second hand.
Magneto.
The Professor had yet to pick off the fact she had left the room, or that she had followed his old rival/friend.
Magneto hadn't picked up on her following him, so he was rather surprised when she hugged him.
"Sorry if I dragged up so many bad memories," she said.
"So you were the one feeding her the information needed to shut them down. I must say I am impressed someone so young is so skilled at this," he said, once he recovered.
While it wasn't enough to drown out the pain of the memories, the fact the girl was sincere about her apology did dull it a little bit.
"It helps to develop counter arguments when you're trying to get a little more time away from the mansion. I hate crowds," Artemis replied. She had developed her skill at negotiating and making effective counter arguments whenever Jean bribed her with time in the wild. She had to be very effective to earn a day or two more, especially after she trained with Hawkeye from S.H.I.E.L.D. and they found out she was almost as good at trick shots as he was.
He especially impressed at the fact she knew how to make her own arrows with a sharpened rock or a simple hunting knife...and that they actually worked nine times out of ten.
Magneto looked at the girl closer. She looked strangely familiar, and not because she bore a striking resemblance to Jean Grey.
"Artemis, there you are."
Artemis didn't have to turn to know the Professor had realized she had left the room to run after Magneto.
"I dare say you've found an...interesting...student Charles," said Eric.
"She is that. It's hard to believe she survived all alone in the Irish woods for two full years before we found out she was Jean's cousin," said Charles.
Eric gave him an odd look.
"How old was she?"
"About seven or eight when we found her. She was more feral than anything, yet she still had enough presence of mind to attend the closest school so as to avoid suspicion by authorities."
"I must admit, I'm surprised she knew something was wrong."
"Artemis has recently started to develop empath abilities. What she lacks in power she's made up in diversity," said Charles.
As the two talked, Artemis went to check on Jean. Mostly because she wanted to try her luck at getting some time in the woods again.
"We've got to move. The Professor got a hit on a mutant about to run head-first into Magneto's group," said Jean.
In between his attempts to find James Howlett, the Professor caught wind of an attack on a known mutant who went by the name Wolverine along with a second, younger mutant with a rather dangerous ability.
Sabertooth had yet to figure out who kept intruding, but he knew something was up because he had managed to cut it off faster than before. At this rate he would know every time Charles enter his mind trying to find something. Or he'd tell Magneto. Either way he was running out of time.
Artemis overheard it, but she knew she wouldn't be allowed to go. For one thing, Magneto had already developed an interest towards her after an odd comment Sabertooth made after he caught her scent on him.
She had no idea he would have caught it so fast, or that it would raise alarms in his head. Let alone the fact that he knew it, but was able to keep that information from the Professor.
However there were other options. For one thing, she had the feeling this mission wouldn't exactly end like they hoped, so she was able to secure a spot in the infirmary as Jean's assistant. A few charms and she could clean up blood and anything else if needed.
Which was why she was in a prime position to come face-to-face with the infamous Wolverine himself.
The last thing he remembered was the explosion and a lot of pain. Waking up in what looked like a hospital room with a hot red head wasn't too bad...but then his eyes meet with a girl barely thirteen if that.
It wasn't the hair or the facial features that caught his attention. It was the scent she had. It was so familiar that it was hard to describe, but the strongest ones he was picking up was fox, earth (the kind you'd find in a forest, not a well kept garden) and rock. In short she smelled distinctly of nature and for some strange reason it put him at ease.
Still, he sure as hell didn't appreciate the needle in his arm and he let the red head know, in spades.
The whispering voices he could do without too. And just when he thought he was going insane, they abruptly stopped without any explanation.
At least until he came face to face with the kid.
"If you go upstairs you'll run head first into the students going between classes. If you want to avoid that mess I suggest waiting five minutes."
"Where am I?"
"Xavier's School for the Gifted. It's a mutant sanctuary in New York that doubles as a school to train young mutants without telling everyone and their grandmother what they are. Jean and the others brought you here because the Professor caught wind of an attack on a pair of mutants while he was looking for something."
She cocked her head.
"It sounds like most of the students are at their other classes. It should be a lot easier to go see the Professor without dealing with the hubbub," she said.
Artemis lead a confused Wolverine straight to where the Professor was waiting. He looked between them with some confusion. Artemis normally didn't take to people or mutants that quickly.
Artemis left, but there was still the unspoken question of why she opened up so fast to this newcomer when it had taken Jean a full week before the girl would agree to sleep indoors. She still mostly slept in the decently sized tree house on the grounds, but during thunderstorms and the like she came inside.
Jean took one look at the X-Rays of his skeleton, and knew immediately why Artemis had taken to him.
Professor, I think we found Artemis' father.
Are you sure?
He has the same mutation in his hands and a rapid healing factor. We could always do a DNA test, but...
Better to be safe than sorry Jean. Run the DNA and see if it's a match. You still have the blood samples don't you?
Jean took the samples she had taken earlier and marked one for a different kind of test than normal.
Though it really didn't seem necessary when they saw how quickly Wolverine gravitated towards Artemis.
Just to be on the safe side, Jean took her 'sister' aside.
"Artemis, are you sure it's a smart idea to spend so much time with him?"
Artemis cocked her head.
"Is this because he's older than dirt?" she asked dryly. They hadn't raised a single peep of protest about her spending three weeks with Clint in the wild woods sharing archery tricks, and now they were worried Logan was a cradle robber?
"There's that...there's also the fact you opened up to him faster than you did me," admitted Jean.
Artemis tapped her nose.
"His scent is familiar. Anyone who has the ability to track through scent knows that the child always carries a small part of their parents even if they've never met."
That was how she knew without being told who Logan was. She forgave him for not trying to find her, since from what she understood, it was a one-night stand that neither of them even remembered, especially since Logan had amnesia that made it near impossible for him to remember anything past a few decades ago.
To Jean that just gave her another check towards Logan being Artemis' father.
He didn't know why they dragged him back downstairs, or why the kid with the comforting scent was there with him. All he did know was that he was going to hear his test results, though he would like to know why one of them took two days to come back.
Seeing his skeleton was interesting...until Jean dropped the bomb.
"Your real name is James Howlett," she told him.
"Excuse me?"
"We haven't been able to identify the source of your amnesia, but we have been able to track down some of your history that you've apparently lost. We're also aware that you do have some relatives still around, one of which was part of the attack that got our attention."
Logan sat up.
"How the hell do you know my real name if I don't?"
"Artemis?" said Jean. The red head sitting two seats away from him did something that nearly gave him a heart attack.
From in between the webbing of her fingers, three claws came out. Bone claws, to be precise. They were almost identical to his, except he had metal covering his entire skeleton. When they retracted, the skin healed instantly as if it had never happened.
"It's not unheard of for a child to inherit identical mutations to the parent, particularly if it's the father who's passing it down. However the fact she got almost all of your mutation is rather unusual," said Jean.
"Hold up a damn minute! Are you telling me I have a kid who's not even thirteen?!" he said in shock.
"To be fair, from what I understand my mother was English and was very likely drunk enough not to realize that she had left the bar with the wrong man. And by the time anyone would have realized I wasn't the child of her husband they were already dead," said Artemis.
Logan didn't know whether to be in catatonic shock or horrified. He had a kid. A daughter no less, and she was almost a teenager! Just the mere idea of trying to raise her was giving him nightmares!
"Ironically the woman you slept with happened to be my favorite cousin. Since Artemis and I look so similar we just declared that she's my younger sister. And while I don't expect you to suddenly want her or try your own hand at raising her, we don't mind if you happen to spend a little time with her."
"Unless you plan to spend a few months in the woods, count me out. I like it here," piped Artemis.
That calmed him down. So they weren't expecting him to take her and raise her. He wouldn't know the first thing about raising a kid anyway.
Logan sat in the tree house next to Artemis. Ever since having the bombshell that he had an almost teenaged daughter dropped on him, he had been coming to terms with the revelation.
The fact they weren't expecting him to try and raise her was the only reason he was still there. He could live with visitation, at least until he got to know her.
"So...how long have you been living here?"
"Since I was eight or nine. Jean found me living in the woods with only Wöden and Meilikki as my companions. These came in real handy when I couldn't bring out my knife to make arrows."
"You were living in the woods only with a pair of foxes? Why?"
"My mother was a witch. My aunt hated her for it, so she dumped me in the Irish woods. It wasn't until I learned to let go of my human inhibitions about hunting and just let nature dictate how I perceived the world that I was able to use these," said Artemis, retracting her claws.
She didn't tell him that her advanced healing ability had been active ever since the killing curse hit her...it was the only reason she was alive.
"I didn't know magic was real."
Artemis grinned.
"I can do this with magic," said Artemis, bringing out the claws...only this time they were almost see-through and had a prismatic quality.
Logan stared.
"What is that?"
"Diamonds. I've been getting better with the right examples to base them off of, but they're stronger than metal and safer to make."
"What do you mean safer?"
Artemis stared at his claws pointedly.
"Metal attracts lightning, not to mention the fact it makes you highly vulnerable to one of the more radical anti-human mutants who's primary power is the control of magnetic polarities. He's called Magneto, and if you ran into him you'd be completely at his mercy because from what the X-rays show that metal runs through your entire skeleton."
Logan grimaced.
"Okay, I see your point about rocks being safer, but why diamonds?"
"Diamonds are commonly used in precision cutting or when the material is too dense or tough to use water or metal as a medium. Next to what you've got coated on your skeleton, it's the second strongest material. Only a diamond can safely cut another diamond after all, and what are the odds of me running into that? It took me a while to even figure out how to change my claws into diamonds, and with examples of higher quality ones it's only gotten better."
"At least you'll never have to deal with air port security flagging you down because of it," grimaced Logan. Damn metal detectors. Artemis snickered.
"So...which forest or natural reserve do you like best?" asked Artemis hopefully.
Logan grinned. Finally they had some common ground he could use without putting his foot in his mouth...mostly.